Official "Dog" Pound Member

Finally got to meet Rex Mongold the "BMW DOG" two weeks ago at Bob Clements place. My ride is now sporting the "Dog" tag. Thanks Rex, I am now an official member of "The Dog" kennel club.

Received my $50.00 Heinrich tank cover in the mail today. A pretty rustic cover as it was oxidized to the max. A few applications of "Mothers" aluminum polish and there was shiny metal living under all the oxidation. The cover has a key lock but no key. By chance the lock can be turned with any thin screw driver or such. The lock works well and it is a proper fit for the tanks locking brackets.

The cover has a bunch of dings in it. I tapped a few out carefully with a ball peen hammer. Overall the cover is good enough, considering that a new reproduction cover would cost well over $400.00. I can live with a few flaws, after all everything in life has flaws. I gave up trying for perfection with mechanical monsters years ago as perfection is a short term unobtainable thing anyway. Who cares.
I wanted to avoid the cover touching the new paint on the tank so I slit a piece of rubber tubing and worked it over the flange rim which sticks up around the tank opening. This effectively keeps the cover from coming in direct contact with the tank. It took a bit of time to adjust the tanks lock brackets but finally got the cover to sit tight and secure on the tank.

The upholstery is in pretty poor shape as it is sun rotted. No tears but the stitching is failing and is not long for this world. No upholstery people around Dillon so will get to it at a later date. Will do the Hack seat, etc. with black and probably will redo the /5 solo seats in black also. No hurry on that. I can get the work done in Arizona or Mexico a whole lot cheaper anyway. We are looking forward to a leisurely ride through Yellowstone Park this weekend. Will pack up the camping gear and rough it for the weekend. We rode through Yellowstone a few years ago on the 4th off July and found it no more crowded than normal. People probably think they;ll wait until after the 4th when the crowds are less. If everyone thinks that way...wa la... no crowds on the 4th. Don't really care if the place is crowded anyway. Just looking forward to a nice slow cruise through the Park. Gas prices are probably keeping a few tourists home. We've ridden through Yellowstone hundreds of times and never get tired of it. It is a wonderful place.